Artist Statement

My name is Nadia Aldea, and I am a mixed media artist. I create from a place of acceptance, healing, and exploration, capturing the complicated dance of pain and beauty. My paintings do not begin as images - they begin as raw masses, like blocks of earth or stone. I approach them with my whole body, pressing, layering, carving, and shifting through countless textured movements. Each piece becomes a slow, instinctive sculpting of feeling into form, shaped by emotion, resistance, and surrender.

The female form is my central subject. My work is rich with hidden details, colorful layers, and fragmented body parts - eyes, mouths, and faces, often disfigured to challenge the idea of conventional beauty. I invite viewers to look beyond the surface, to sit with discomfort, and find unexpected connection.

I work across a variety of mediums, including acrylic paints, charcoal, chalk, pastels, collage, sewing, and yarn, on canvas, polyester film, wood panels, and linen. My intention is to demand a moment of stillness and deep observation to create a space where imperfection is honored, and beauty is reimagined.